Divefree

Fish

Large Spotted Pompano

Trachinotus botla

A hard-fighting surf pompano of rough sandy beaches, marked by a row of large lead-grey blotches down its silvery flank.

Also known as grootkol- pompano

Large Spotted Pompano
Photo: Alexandra Hoschke · CC BY-NC 4.0
Typical size
Attains 75 cm
Habitat
Surge zone off sandy beaches in coastal waters

The largespotted pompano is bluish-black above and silvery below, with one to five big plumbeous spots strung along the lateral line - the front pair larger than the eye. The spots only appear once a fish passes about 15 cm and multiply with age, so juveniles are plain silver. It reaches around 75 cm.

It favours the churning surge zone right off sandy beaches, ranging from Algoa Bay northward up the east coast to Kenya and across to Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Western Australia. A prized light-tackle target from the beach, the South African angling record stands at 2.3 kg.